It's Not A Date
by Free Dan Phantom
Summary: Rated T for mention of mating. It's time for the Casper High School Dance. Sam's dragged Danny in but Tucker's date is a little more psychotic. Tucker goin' on a date with a villainess. Written by the author of 'Jack the Hero'.Review if you love it!


Sam was looking at her wristwatch when Danny and Tucker finally came through the doorway into the gym. The bleachers had been pushed away and a canvas tarp pulled over the basketball court. A band played on the stage at the far end of the room while various Spring theme decorations hung from the ceiling. The gym was already pretty crowded with kids dancing; the air was thick with sweat and hormones. Lights flashing off the mirrored ball hanging from the ceiling caught the two boys in a series of polaroids: Danny looking calm and in charge as he entered the room slowly dissolving into fear and uncertainty. Tucker, looking pale and nervous, turning even more pale and panicky.

"And only twenty minutes late." Sam told her companion, a slender thirteen year old girl with bone white hair done up in a ponytail. She wore a black dress over what looked like a spandex jumpsuit, with black calf-high boots with low heels. There were little skull designs carved into the boots, painted white. Her most distinguishing feature was a large, vivid scar that crossed her face from below her nose, over her eye, which was, remarkably, undamaged, and continued up her forehead before disappearing into her hair. Her name, or so she told them, was Scar. She was from...elsewhere. Her appearance, like a lot of things about her, wasn't what it seemed.

"Is Julian ever late?" Sam asked.

"Never. He would die if he ever failed me." Julian was a young boy who had showed up in Amity Park shortly after Scar and had immediately attached himself to her. They seemed to know each other from wherever Scar had come from. Scar ordered him around like some kind of slave. But then Scar acted that way towards everybody.

"I'm surprised that Julian didn't say something about your date with Tucker."

"I do what I want."

"It's just, you know, when he looks at you, it's kind of like he has a crush or something."

"He's my lackey. Nothing more. Lackey's should always be attentive to their masters. That's all it is."

"Well, I've seen a lackey or two myself. My parents surround themselves with them and I can't say I've ever seen any of them looking at my parents the way Julian looks at you."

"Tell me again," Scar said, changing the subject, "why the boys come together as a group, because it seems that a lot of the others come already paired boy and girl?"

"If I hadn't sent Danny to collect Tucker, he won't be here." Sam explained

"But he was the one who asked me to the dance."

"I was pretty surprise when he did that."

"I thought he liked me."

"He does, it's just... that boys sometimes get cold feet.."

"They should wear warmer shoes. I've never had a problem with my feet getting cold."

"That was a figure of speech, Scar. I just mean that sometimes boys regret some of the things they say..."

"So he doesn't like me!" Scar growled in a surprisingly deep tone.

"No, no, no," Sam hastened to correct. "I mean that sometimes boys realize afterwards that they"re not ready to go out on a date."

"Is that why Danny kept says that this wasn't a date?" It was Sam's turn to growl.

"Interesting? So if Tucker doesn't like me and Danny doesn't like you, why are they both here, where clearly they don't want to be?"

"Because they know I'll kill 'em if them don't show up."

"I thought you were the one opposed to killing."

"Just smile and pretend that nothing's wrong."

Scar shrugged and smiled as Tucker and Danny finally made it through the crowd to them. She didn't show her teeth while smiling because among her kind that meant something entirely different. When Scar smiled with her teeth, it was time to run for your life.

Tucker Foley was dressed in a brown suit with a yellow shirt and a blue and grey striped tie. His red beret kind of clashed with his outfit but he hadn't been able to leave it at home. He wore garish, shiny, pointy toed oxford shoes. He had a small flower in his buttonhole and carried a small plastic box in his hand.

Danny wore his usual jeans and T-shirt as if to say 'I'm really, really, not on a date.' Sam, on the other hand, was dressed in a strapless gown of black lace and a purple trimmed bolero jacket and looked like a million bucks.

Tucker awkwardly held out the plastic box to Scar. It contained a fist-size grouping of flowers.

"Thank you," she said, remembering to be polite. She took the flowers of out of box, sniffed them appreciatively, then took a bite out of them. "Normally I only eat meat," Scar said, "but I appreciate the thought. These are quite...ah...tasty."

"That's a corsage," Sam whispered. "You don't eat it. Your date pins it on you."

Scar's eyes narrowed and stared at Tucker. "On your dress," Sam hastily explained. "It's a decoration."

"Then I don't have to finish eating them?"

"No." Scar hastily coughed the chewed up flowers out. Tucker took at the half-eating corsage and gamely tried to pin it on Scar's dress. It came away looking sad and lop-sided. Sam readjusted it so the bitten off part look like part of the design.

"How's come you don't get one of these?" Scar asked.

Sam scowled at Danny for a moment before saying, "Let's get a table before they're all taken."

One side of the gym had been filled with tables and chairs from the cafeteria. Danny quickly found them a table in the back He pulled out a chair and was about to sit down when he suddenly remembered his manners, hopped up in time to pull out a chair for Sam. Scar looked confused when Tucker suddenly did the same. "Sit" Danny whispered.

"What... did... you... say?" Scar snarled. Her eyes flashed red again and her fingers started elongating into talons.

"Nothing. Nothing." Danny said nervously. "Just that Tucker's holding out a chair for you."

"He offering you a place to sit, not ordering you to sit," Sam explained.

"Oh? Good. 'Cause I'm not a dog. No one tells me to 'sit'!" Scar snarled.. Her fingers shrunk back to normal and her eyes turned to their normal dark green. There was an awkward silence as Scar sat down and Tucker help scoot her chair closer to the table.

Danny was scanning the crowd, perhaps looking for a quick exit. He glanced at Sam then looked away. After a moment he said, "You're looking really good tonight, Sam."

""Thanks for noticing. I thought it was worth the effort to look good. It''s not easy to get lace like this dyed the right shade of black."

"I wasn't expecting to see Scar in a dress."

"I'm trying getting her over jumpsuits"

"Jumpsuits are tidy and practice," Scar said. "I notice that your parents always wear them, Danny Fenton."

"My parents are an embarrassment."

"I at least got her to wear a dress over her jumpsuit. I explained that all the other girls here would be wearing dresses and she wouldn't want to stick out."

"But a leader must always stand out," Scar objected.

"Yes, but maybe not tonight," Sam explained with a sigh.

"Isn't that your dresses Scar's wearing?" Danny asked.

"Why yes, how did you know?"

"Because it's black?"

"I don't always wear black."

"Name one time?"

"Umm, Last Thursday."

"That was gym class. They make you wear the school colors there."

Scar turned to Tucker, "So, this is 'small talk'?"

"Nah, they're fighting."

"But neither seems to be enjoying it."

"You got that. Wanna dance?"

"I'd like to see how this fight comes out."

"I've seen them like this before. They'll bicker like this for an hour or so, get bored and go out for a Nasty Burger."

"Nobody gets killed?"

"Afraid not."

"Oh." Scar thought for a moment. "Ok, let's dance."

They got up and moved into the crowd of kids on the floor. Tucker started moving spastically. Scar watched for a moment started copying his moves.

"I can't believe he said that in front of us. We were right here!" Danny groused.

"I can't believe we're that predictable."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm dying for an alfalfa sprouts and tofu Nasty Burger. You could go ghost, fly over, pick us up a snack and get back before anyone notices."

"How are we going to eat Nasty Burgers here and not have people notice?" Danny objected.

"Now you're just making it sound like a challenge."

Danny didn't answer. He pointed to Tucker and asked, "Is that even a dance?"

"The funky chicken?" Sam hazzarded.

"It's not pogo-ing because you're supposed to keep your arms next to your side."

"St. Vitis's dance?"

"Wasn't that on a science quiz?"

"Just take me dancing," Sam ordered.

They danced through two numbers before the band switched to a slow ballad. Sam seized Danny's hand and moved in close ready to continue dancing only to find Danny pulling her off the dance floor. Nearly the entire student body was abandoning the floor, piling down at tables or lining up at the punch bowl for refreshments. Danny and Sam reclaimed their seat and moments later Tucker and Scar joined them.

After carefully seating Scar, Tucker took off his suit coat and slung it over the back of his chair. His shirt was soaked and he was breathing hard. The dancing was probably the most exercise he'd had this week. Scar, with her unhuman vitality hadn't even broken out in a sweat but she glowed with excitement.

As Tucker went to sit down, his chair slide out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor. Painfully he got up and grabbed the chair, holding it firming he carefully lowered himself onto its seat. "That's weird," he said. "It's like the chair just up and moved. Did you have anything to do with this, Danny?"

"No!" Danny exclaimed genuinely shocked that his friend would blame him for his clumsiness. Sam was scowling at him too. "I didn't do anything!" he repeated.

"Well, it didn't get up and walk away by itself," Sam reminded him.

"I didn't do anything. Tuck just missed the edge of the seat that's all. Why is everyone blaming me?"

"You're the only one with the ghost powers," Tucker reminded him.

"I'm not the only one here with ghost powers," reminded them. "There's Scar—"

A growl caused him to look up at the young girl. She was smiling at him — with her teeth.

"Oh, forget it. No one's going to believe me anyway."

"I'll get us some drinks," Tucker said and got up. He made his way through the group to the refreshment table and picked up a couple of full plastic cups. As he turned back towards them Danny's breath turned blue and come out as a little fog. His Ghost Sense was kicking in. Anxiously, he looked around the room, trying to determine where the ghost was that was setting off his built-in alarm. But with Scar sitting next to him with all her ectoplasmic potential it was like trying to find a firefly in front of a spotlight.

Suddenly Sam touched his arm and quietly pointed towards the returning Tucker. Behind Tucker the large crystal punch bowl was slowly rising into the air. And drifting towards Tuck.

Danny looked quickly around the crowded room. There was no easy place to transform into Danny Phantom. "Oh, look, I've got to tie my shoelace." He ducked under the table and quickly transformed there. Going invisible, he quickly flew to the punch bowl and grabbed in as it began to tip over Tucker.

He wrestled with the bowl for a minute. Whoever or whatever was holding the bowl was invisible like himself — and pretty strong. Unable to pull the bowl loose, Danny doubled over then suddenly kicked out with his feet at whoever was on the other side of the bowl trying to tip it over. His feet caught someone solidly. There was a muffled "Oof" and the bowl went free. Danny sailed with it back to the table and set it down.

Danny flew around the gym and down several of the adjacent halls looking for a trace of the ghost that had been there but couldn't identify anything specific. He flew into the cloak room and when no one was looking changed back to Danny Fenton, walked out to the refreshment table, picked up drinks for Sam and himself and went back to their table.

Scar was surprised when Danny walked in behind her and handed Sam her drink. She looked under the table. "Cool," she said, and then louder "Shoelace," and disappeared under the table as well.

It took Tucker a minute to realize that Scar wasn't still under the table.

He was just at the "what the–" stage when Scar sauntered back from the refreshment table.

"Do you know they don't serve coffee?" she asked.

"Scar, the last time you had coffee someone from your original time line had to come back and hit you with a tranquilizer. I don't think it's a good idea for you to have any more."

Scar's eyes flared - literally - and she snarled, "I'll be the judge of what!"

"You look like someone who needs to dance," Tucker suddenly announced and grabbed Scar and dragged her back to the dance floor before she had time to realize what he was saying.

Danny looked at Sam. "It was your idea to chaperone their date," he accused.

They watched Tucker and Scar dance for a little bit. "Geez, Tucker has got to be the most uncoordinated dancer in the world."

"At least he hasn't stepped on Scar's toes unlike a certain other ghost I could talk about."

"One time. One time! And you were trying to lead. What did you expect would happen?"

"Do we really bicker all the time, have we got stuck in a rut?" Sam wondered.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure there's something I should be sorry for."

"Got that right."

"You know all things considered, Tucker and Scar look pretty good together." And Danny's chair promptly tipped over dumping him on the floor.

"Danny?" Sam called.

"Ow." He got up, set the chair up and looked around the room. Naturally, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Are you ok?"

"We're not alone." He said.

"Yes, it's called a dance."

"No, I mean someone - or something - is here and they're not happy."

"About the dance?"

"No, about Tucker dancing with Scar!"

"There's a ghost upset that Tucker has a date? Wow! Now that's a specialized ghost."

""Uh Oh!"

"What?"

"Potted plant, gotta go," Danny ducked under the table again and disappeared.

"And once again I'm alone and abandoned at the party," Sam groaned.

Some small palm trees had been rented for the dance. They sat in large tubs scatted along the edges of the dance floor. Danny had seen on suddenly start swaying left and right. Directly below it Tucker and Scar were dancing. Invisible again, Danny swiftly flew to the tree and grabbed it. Someone equally invisible tried to jerk it out of his hands. Danny held on, kicking as before at the other ghost. This time he couldn't make contact.

Suddenly the other ghost let go. Danny fell backwards so hard he nearly pulled the tree over himself. But he quickly stopped his fall and flew back up, pushing the tree into position. As he let it go he couldn't sense the other ghost's presence. Looking down he noticed that Tucker and Scar had reversed positions, so Tucker was now out of reach of the tree if it were to fall over.

Danny flew back to their chairs and emerged again from under table. He found that Sam had dug out a tiny pair of manicure scissors and was methodically cutting the lace off her dress.

"What are you doing?" he asked somewhat alarmed. "Why are you ruining your dress?"

"It's cursed," Sam replied. "Obviously I wasn't meant to wear this to a dance — and get to dance in it"

"You're nuts."

"And you're avoiding dancing with me."

"I am not."

"Then why am I — "

"Canvas! Gotta Go"

" — sitting here by my self?"

Danny had spotted a section of the canvas tarp stretched over the basketball court floor to protect it from scuffing, had bunched up, suddenly and unexpectedly, right behind Tucker's feet. Danny turned intangible, flew into the floor at the edge of one of the tarps sections and yanked, pulling the tarp smooth just as Tucker stepped on to it. Danny's sigh of relief turned into a yelp of pain as some young girl stepped on his still tangible hands with her heels.

Danny ducked under the floor and flew back to Sam, where he emerged from under the table again, shaking his bruised hand. "Someone stepped on my hand," he explained.

Sam grabbed his hand and looked. "You're not even bleeding. Don't be such a baby."

"She was wearing stiletto heels. Who lets a fourteen year old wear stiletto heels to a dance?"

Sam reached down and pulled off her shoe and placed it next to Danny's hand. The imprint of the other girl's shoe was clearly marked in his flesh. Sam's shoe's heel was, surprisingly the same size.

"You stepped on my hand?" Danny accused.

"No," Sam said as she put her shoe back on. "I've been sitting here — alone — all this time, although I'm beginning to wish I had stepped on your hand. I'm tired of you running off– "

But Danny was gone again. A moment later he reappeared from under their table with a volleyball in his hand. "Saw it sailing towards Tucker," he explained.

"I think you're just using this as an excuse to avoid dancing with me," Sam declared.

"No, that's not it. Someone or something is trying to hurt Tucker and I'm trying to stop it."

"Well, all I'm seeing is you ducking under this table every five seconds and if you don't stop it someone's going to think you're doing something weird under there."

"Like what?"

"Just dance with me. Tucker can look after himself for five minutes. Besides he's got Scar there. Who would risk pissing off Scar?"

Sam was out of her chair and dragging Danny towards the dance floor even before she finished talking.

They danced uninterrupted for a few minutes near to Tucker and Scar then all of a sudden Tucker took a hard fall to the floor. Sam and Danny crowded over and found Tucker looking suspiciously at his shoes. "The darn things came untied," he explained. "I tripped on the laces." He retied the shoes and got back up. As he was dusting off his pants Sam asked Scar how she was doing.

"I'm having a wonderful time," Scar yelled over the band. "This reminds me of the hunt! The running, and jumping and cardio exercise."

"I'm glad you're having a good time," Sam yelled back.

"You said this was part of the human mating ritual?. So when does the mating begin?"

"Whoa!"

They spun around to see Tucker sprawled on the floor. People were complaining about him tripping them up.

"If you're drunk, man," one suggested, "get off the dance floor before you barf or something."

Tucker looked angry. "Someone pushed me. I wasn't doing anything and someone pushed me."

"Do you see anyone?" Danny asked.

"Maybe they were invisible," Tucker suggested, looking at Danny in a meaningful fashion.

"Hey, whoa, I didn't do it. I was dancing with Sam."

"What do you mean there's no mating?" Scar bellowed.

"Quick, back to the table," Danny ordered, grabbing Scar's arm and dragging her off the dance floor.

"Indoor voice, Ok?" he told her.

"Don't ever touch me like that again," Scar hissed. Her jaw elongated and her teeth grew into short daggers.

"Put the fangs away," Sam asked, dumping Tucker in his seat before sitting down next to the seething, disfigured girl. "Look, I know I said this was part of the mating ritual but only in the sense that this is one way people get to know each other and decide who they want to be their partner for life."

"But I could smell the mating passions on some of the people tonight."

"That's why there are chaperones here."

"The adults?"

"Yes, because we're too young to get into those kinds of relationships."

"What?" Tucker suddenly asked. "Scar thought I was going to..."

"Apparently," Danny laughed, unwisely.

"No way!"

"Why not!" Scar demanded. "Am I not good enough for you?"

"Well, at the moment, you're kind of scary." Tucker said. "I don't know how it works for you people in the Ghost Zone, but here on Earth we try to ... er... mate for life, so we like to get it right the first time. Life's a long time to live with a mistake."

Scar's hard looks softened and turned sad. "I know about mistakes. So this dance is...?"

"It's about sorting out people," Sam said, "into friends, acquaintances, sometimes enemies, some times. Eventually you find the person that completes you. I guess that the right word. And then you know you've found your lover."

"How long does this take?"

"It's different for each person. Sometimes it can be years, sometimes never. But it's not something we want to rush into, so we have dances and festivals and so on where we can get to know people better without having to make a commitment."

"It's hard to imagine having fun without killing someone." Scar said.

The three humans blanched.

"Gotcha!" Scar laughed. "I don't always go around killing things. You people are way too serious. Come on, Tucker, let's dance."

"What about you, Danny?" Sam asked.

"In a minute. I'm still stressing from manhandling Scar. I can't believe I did that. I can't believe she let me get away with it."

"Relax. I'll get you a drink." Sam got up and walked towards the refreshment table. Danny watched Tucker and Scar, back out in the middle of the floor flinging their arms and legs about in time to the music. Maybe Scar was finally starting to mellow out.

Something quivered.

Danny looked around. He saw it again. It was the sparkles of light reflecting from the mirrored ball over the dance floor. He looked up at the ball and saw it shake ever so slightly. Then shake again, like someone was trying to pull it down.

Once again, he slipped under the table, switched to Danny Phantom and rocketed towards the hanging mirror ball.

Sam, returning with a couple drinks, stared at the empty table and swore. "I am truly cursed," she said, pulling out her manicure scissors and attacked another section of lace.

Danny flew around the ball at high speed trying to see who was trying to destroy it. Whoever they were remained invisible. He flew in close and tried to grab the chain anchoring the ball to the ceiling. He bumped against something invisible. He lashed out with a fist at where he thought the body was, making brief contact. Suddenly a ectoplasmic blast pounded him from the invisible enemy, knocking Danny to the floor. As the blast shot out he had a brief glimpse of a dark haired boy about his age wearing white Cossack-style clothes.

As Danny struggled to his feet amidst the crowd of dancing kids he caught a glimpse of something large and scaly rocketing off the dance floor towards the shaking mirror ball. There were flashes of green and pink ectoplasmic energy and a scream fading through the roof of the gym.

The mirror ball gave one last shake and fell. In a flash Danny shot up, trying to catch it.

The ball, a full five feet in diameter was too large to him to grab and too heavy for him to stop. Still Danny was able to slow it down enough so that people were able clear out before it--and Danny --crashed into the floor.

Tucker was first there to roll the smashed ball off. He was relieved to see that Danny was still Danny Phantom, he hadn't reverted to his human form as he so often did when exhausted or knocked out.

In a loud voice he asked, "Ghost boy, what's going on?"

Danny whispered, "Ask Sam." In a louder voice he announced, "I must stop the villains!" and rocketed through the ceiling after Scar and the other ghost.

Danny flew through the ceiling of the gymnasium, then paused high over the school. Scar was in the distance darting this way and that, searching. She was in her large, scaley, monster form, with flaming mane and flaring tail. She looked like a wingless dragon. The instant she saw Danny floating over the school she roared up. "Where'd he go?" she demanded.

Danny paused for a moment like he was searching or maybe thinking. "I don't know?" he said, "I think he's gone away."

"No one ruins my date! He must be punished! He will die!"

"No one gets killed while I'm around, Scar. No one!"

"Fine, I'll take him to the Ghost Zone."

"No!" Danny shouted again. "If you kill him here or there or anywhere, you will not be welcome back to the Human world."

"You think you can stop me?"

"It won't just be me. It would be an army of human's willing to stop a monster. Even if you won, you'd lose. There wouldn't be any more dances. There wouldn't be any more people willing to say 'hello'."

"But he ruined my date."

"Like you're the first person to have their date ruined?"

"But—"

"What will Tucker think if you just bail on him like this?"

Scar considered. "Look," Danny persisted, "This is my world. I'm responsible for dealing with any misbehaving ghosts. Go back to the dance, see if Tucker'' alright, while I scout around some more for this ecto-prankster."

After a moment, Scar shifted into her human form. "Alright, but you had better catch that trouble-maker." She started to drift down to the roof.

"Not through the roof!" Danny exclaimed. "Don't let anyone know you're a ghost!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Scar snarled before turning invisible and seeking out a quiet corner in the coat room.

Danny did a few lazy circles around the school perimeter until he was convinced that Scar wasn't coming back. Then he flew over to a corner of the football field bleachers next to the concessions building, slipped through the bleachers and came to rest on the ground in darkest part of the under-bleachers.

"She's gone. You can come out now — Julian."

After a moment, a slender boy dressed in a white Cossack like outfit with a red cape. He had a disturbing resemble to Vlad Plasmius, except not quite so evil around the eyes.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked sullenly.

"I didn't at first. You had me going so much I didn't have time to think but once I did it was obvious. Who else would be willing to defy Scar? Or know that she's in town, or on a date? Who else would care? You're in love with Scar, aren't you?"

"He is unworthy of her."

"You sound like my dad. Every guy my sister, Jazz, dates is 'unworthy of her'."

"Are they?"

"It doesn't matter. How would I know? That isn't the point." Danny sputtered. "Look— if you don't like Scar going on a date, you're going to have to tell her."

"I did. She didn't listen to me." Julian hung his head, "She never listens to me."

"Did you tell her why?" Danny asked.

"I—I can't tell her that!"

"Well, if you won't tell Scar why you don't want her going on a date with Tucker, you can't complain when she does."

Julian didn't say anything. He seemed to be intently studying his boots. The toe curled up weirdly.

"And I won't let you keep messing up their dates. The next time, I tell Scar."

When Julian didn't respond, Danny continued insistently, "Did you hear me? Next time you'll have to explain to Scar. And she won't be in a good mood."

Softly Julian muttered, "Yeah."

"Are you going to leave Scar and Tucker alone?"

If Julian said anything Danny couldn't hear.

"Julian! Are you going to leave Tucker alone?"

"Yes."

"Good." Danny turned to walk away, then stopped and turned back around. "You're going to have to talk about this with Scar sooner or later."

"I know."

"At the risk of sounding like an After School Special, I think 'sooner' is better than 'later.'"

Julian silently nodded. Abruptly a ring of light sprang out about his waist, split into two and traveled the length of his body. His eyes turned red and glowed. A moment later he faded out of sight.

Danny walked out from under the bleachers and sat down on the end. With a sigh, he leaned back against the next row. It had been a busy night for him and he was exhausted. It was bad enough that every ghost able to break through to the Human world wanted to kill him, now he had to give out dating advise! Like he'd ever gone on a date! Going to dances with Sam, of course, didn't count. They were just friends...

Danny hadn't realized how long he had been sitting on the bleacher when someone unexpectedly sat down next to him. He eased one eye open then sat up in a panic.

"Sam."

"They've canceled the dance," she said. "That lets you off the hook, I guess."

Danny noticed that her dress has suffered considerable more damage since he's last seen it. Guiltily he realized that he should have gone back to find her a long time ago.

Sam kicked off her heels and spread her feet out, wiggling her toes. "Next time I'm wearing my Doc Martin's no matter how much they clash with my clothes."

"I never could understand how you could walk in those things."

"Ginger Rogers could dance in high heels and make it look effortless. But then she wasn't trying to walk in heels on a cinder track,"

Danny looked across the football field to the school. There was a cinder fill track surrounding the field and leading up to the gym's outdoor entrance. It was a long ways to walk, even in regular shoes. "Sorry." he said, "I was just thinking. Didn't realize how late it was."

"You could have told me if you had decided to bail on me."

"I wasn't bailing, Sam. I was..." he paused, uncertain. "It was Julian who was trying to pull all those pranks on Tucker."

"Well, D'uh."

"I got him to go home before Scar found out."

"Poor Tucker."

"Poor Julian, if Scar ever found out he was trying to ruin her date."

"Tucker's our friend. He's going to be crushed if he learns he has a rival."

"I'm not going to tell him, are you? I'm sure Julian isn't and Scar doesn't have a clue. Say where are they?"

"Tucker took Scar to the Nasty Burger. I think a lot of kids are going there."

"We may as well join them." Danny said "No point sitting out here in the dark, the two of us alone."

Sam gave Danny a long, questioning look. "Right," she said, finally, "Alone, together, in the dark."

"Ready to go?" Danny stood up and offered Sam a hand.

"Clueless," she muttered.

Danny helped her gather up her shoes, changed to Danny Phantom, picked her up and soared into the sky towards the Nasty Burger.

"Hey, Fenton," Sam said, "I hope you've got a lot of quarters for the junk box because you owe me a butt load of dances."


End file.
